Eviction drive in Turag

Eviction drive in Turag

Given will, other things will follow

ANOTHER spurt of eviction activity in Turag is proving to be cosmetic , typically a case of morning showing the day.Impelled by a High Court order following a news report titled “Turag close to death” in this newspaper ,the three-day drive to free Turag of some encroachments hit a snag on Tuesday,the very first day of its launching.

The first thing to note is that by habitual or deliberate default ,eviction drive is undertaken not to nip an encroachment or illegal construction in the bud but when it has taken place in a structured ,concretised manner,making salvage difficult and, unnecessarily, costly.The BIWTA ,local administrations and local government representatives are best suited to keep tab on encroachment taking place and preventing it.But their efforts will have to be backed up by a strong government will.

That said,we would emphasise the need for well-equipped,fail-safe and sustained eviction drives.Take the on-going operation in Turag.The adequacies have been debilitating:Biwta could not mobilize a pontoon with a long reach excavator and a tug boat or a bulldozer to remove concrete walls, pillars and earth filling within Turag.A serious impediment was faced in the low- height bridges across the river in terms of movement of tugboats,a problem that needs to be addressed from a broader navigability point of view.

We need not emphasise the fact too much that failed records of eviction drives can only proliferate the culture of impunity which is already causing havoc with the rivers.